Overview Scholar Rank is a browser extension that displays academic journal quality rankings (ABDC 2025, ABS/AJG 2024, Scopus CiteScore 2025 quartiles, and the Financial Times 50) alongside Google Scholar search results. This privacy policy explains what information the extension accesses, how it is used, and your rights.

We are committed to transparency and minimal data collection. Scholar Rank does not collect personal information, browsing history, or search queries.

This policy applies equally to the Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox versions of Scholar Rank.

Information We Access

Google Scholar Page Content: The extension reads Google Scholar result pages to identify journal names and article titles to match against rankings. This data is processed locally in your browser. No Google Scholar page content is transmitted to our servers.
Crossref API Requests: When a journal name is truncated, the extension securely pings the Crossref API (api.crossref.org) to resolve the full journal name. This is a public scholarly metadata service. No personal data is sent.
License Verification & Secure Data Retrieval: To verify your license and securely fetch the latest journal ranking datasets, the extension communicates with our server at community.thewritingproject.me. It sends only a randomly generated installation identifier (a random UUID created on your device to bind a license to your installation). Once verified, the server securely transmits the ranking data to your browser. The extension does not send your name, email, browsing history, or any Google Scholar search content to this server.
Data Storage To ensure you always have the most up-to-date information and to keep the extension lightweight, the journal ranking data (ABDC, ABS/AJG, Scopus, and FT50) is securely fetched from our servers and temporarily cached in your browser's local extension storage. No personal Google Scholar search data is stored on our servers. The extension also uses local storage to save your display preferences.

Data Sharing We do not sell, trade, or transfer any user data to third parties. We do not share your data with anyone beyond what is required to provide the ranking and license verification features.

Permissions Explained

storage: Stores your license state, a random installation identifier, ranking data cache, and display preferences locally in your browser.
host_permissions (api.crossref.org): To resolve truncated or ambiguous journal names via the Crossref public metadata API.
host_permissions (community.thewritingproject.me): To verify your license installation identifier and securely download the latest journal ranking datasets to your browser.
Content scripts (scholar.google.*): To read Google Scholar result pages so ranking badges and the analytics toolbar can be added. The extension runs on Google Scholar only.